Raised Garden Bed

[Magick81]

Hello everyone :D

This weekend, I plan to get some supplies from bunnings and building 2x raised garden beds. One for flowers, another for a vegetable garden. They sell them at bunnings, but I want a bigger ones than what the stock (according to their website).

So I plan on copying their one on a larger scale. Here's a pic:

Anyways, I have no idea how the floor is constructed. Would it be some kind of fine mesh to allow water to drain?

Thats the idea I had in my mind anyways.

Is that the best way to build it? Or is my idea completely wrong.

I'm open to any comments, ideas and suggestions.

Cheers

Magickz

Edited September 26, 2011 by Magick81

[Jonstn]

Would you need a bottom? My mate made a decent one out of 4 bits of corrugated iron and 4 wooden pillars, works a treat!

[Magick81]

lols

I thought that wasn't a viable option in case I wanted to move it.....

But I now realise how stupid that sounds haha

Thanks for that

Edited September 26, 2011 by Magick81

[Stillman]

No floor buddy, and just go to a timber yard and buy some heavy treated pine some lighter stuff for strutts and knock it up yourself or some corrogated iron for about a tenth of the price, it will be a much larger deeper, Heavier and longer lasting gig.

[PhoenixSon]

treated pine yummy!

[Marcel]

What's it sitting on? If you're putting it up on concrete, I have just the solution for you... If on soil, do as the above guys suggest.

[Stillman]

Well you don't have to use treated pine its just cheaper and convenient to work with as its not too heavy and due to the fact its treated it won't be eaten by white ants.

[Stillman]

the bunnings one looks like a treated pine product anyway.

[Marcel]

The Bunnings pre-made veggie patch raised beds are treated pine, but it's ACQ treated and not CCA. (For those who don't know, in summary: ACQ = good, CCA = bad.)

[Zen Peddler]

I posted on this recently - I went and installed four large garden beds/retaining walls (3 X 4 metres square by 1.5 feet deep) on a sloping block for a four plot vegie patch and thought I was using ACQ treated pine - but it was CCA. Some people tell you its ok, but I can tell you some stories I heard that helped me decide to pull them all up and replace them with untreated hardwood. Termites might get in eventually, but id sooner not increase my toxin load.

As for the bottom, I used nothing. If you use plastic underneith drainage will be the issue.

if I were you id get some second hand redgum sleepers and make them out of those. put in four posts, and bolt these on the the sleepers with carriage bolts. then nail the side sleepers on to that and fill them with a cubic metre of organic soil and worm castings and your laughing.

ive got more vegies coming up already than I can poke a stick at.

[sapito]

Not sure where you are located but in my city ACQ treated pine can be bought for only a small price increase when compared to CCA treated.

Might be worth looking into

Edited September 27, 2011 by sapito

[Magick81]

Thanks for all the feedback guys :D

The beds will be on soil/grass so no need for a bottom.

I feel confident that I have enough info to get started. Will go to bunnings on the weekend.

Thanks again everybody

[2Deep2Handle]

Something like this? worked wonders for me...remember to cap the top and have walkways throughout your beds :D makes plant maintenance much more fun instead of a chore

[Amazonian]

The beds will be on soil/grass so no need for a bottom.

I feel confident that I have enough info to get started. Will go to bunnings on the weekend.

 

You might want to use a weed-mat on the bottom? .

Happy gardening .

[kadakuda]

i use bamboo poles and plastic fabric. Lasts far longer than wood, is far cheaper than wood and you can make an assload of raised beds for about $30 at the prices here.

Nothing against wood, but its not long term in many areas and is very expensive (maybe not where you are?)

[Evil Genius]

Nice growing space, 2deep2handle! What are the plants on the picture? bye Eg

edit: Kada, do you grow the bamboo yourself or is it wild where you live? I have some bamboo seedlings but i fear that they get out of control.

Edited September 28, 2011 by Evil Genius

[planthelper]

i like kadas methode, because the building materials involved are leightweight and inexpensive, and construction time will be very short aswell.

if you go for the more solid approach, than wood or corringated iron would be your choice.

let's never forget, that we always try to recycle materials, and this not only because of money issues. wood is such a special thing, and i would make a law that all thrown out wood has to be recycled, if possible.

most council tips let you carry away, "fire wood" for free, it depens how big your tip is, but i estimate, for most people it would take only 2 or 3 scavanging hunts, to get all the material needed for this project. i even sometimes re use the nails, which is no problem if they are old nails. i just bang them straight again with a hammer, on top of a block of wood used like an anvil.

railway sleepers mostly have been treated aswell, and i would never use any treated materials around my vegies.

[tripsis]

I've used Colourbond (currugated steel) for my raised bed. The panels I used were previously used for roofing, so measured approx. 3m x 0.8m. On 3 of the beds, I used the panels as is, the other one I cut to half the depth. It's nice having beds almost 80cm nice, but it's bloody expensive filling them! In future I'd cut all of them to half the depth. I couldn't dig them down nearly as far as I had intended due to the whole property sitting on a sandstone outcrop, so the bedrock in only a few centimetres down in some places. Anyway, they work well and won't break down any time soon.

I'll be making more raised beds soon, though much shallower, using old wooden fencing and bricks, plus whatever other suitable wood is hanging around.

[naja naja]

use weedmat forthe floor.'ll stp all the grass roots and stuff growing up into the soil,while still allowing perfect drainage through it. Very cheap, like $2 as metre and well worth it imo. It's wat they use for weed suppression in most commercial nurseries.

Oops, like Amazonian said.

Edited September 29, 2011 by naja naja

[kadakuda]

edit: Kada, do you grow the bamboo yourself or is it wild where you live? I have some bamboo seedlings but i fear that they get out of control.

Covers the mountains in spots here. Lots of it around, and also bamboo farms for food too. So i tend to go get it free, but here you can buy 100 stacks of 8' roughly 1" thick poles (used for beans and such) for $4.

Bamboo is very fast and weedy, and thus very cheap to buy where ti grows outside year round.

Here is my setup, if there is any interest and need for better pics just ask.

I use black fabric at either 5 or 6 feet width. they come in rolls of 100 feet here. 5' is about $25 and 6 feet is about $30 (OZ $). I wrap the plastic around the bamboo and use steel wire to tie it on then use pliers to tighten it. Every 50cm or so i do this, which is slightly time consuming. I personally use cracked pots to hold the bamboo up, but anything works. Just need to raise the bamboo up, i put supports in between the wire to avoid any soil seeping out.

if i were to buy the bamboo, 1 8' long piece costs about $0.04 each. 100 feet of plastic that is 6' (makes a 4' wide bed at almost 1' high) is $30. need 30 bamboo poles to make 100x4' bed, so $1.20 in bamboo, about $2 in wire tops, $5 for cheapo pliers, and if you wanted to use brand new pots to hold it up i use about 60 pots for 100 feet and they cost $0.08 each pot here ($4.80). total bed costs for 100x4' is $43. Here 1 1x10 board 10' long is about $18....but wood is crazy expensive here (cause its all imported)